


pins and needles

by aloneintherain



Category: DCU, Titans (TV 2018)
Genre: Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Platonic Cuddling, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-27 00:58:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16692343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aloneintherain/pseuds/aloneintherain
Summary: “I leave to get food,” Kory said, leaning against the doorframe, smirking, “and this is what I come back to?”Kory took them in silently—Dick, purple bags under his eyes, squashed into the motel’s too-small bathtub. It made for a dry but uncomfortable bed. Especially with two teenagers asleep on top of him.





	pins and needles

 

“I leave to get food,” Kory said, leaning against the doorframe, smirking, “and this is what I come back to?”

Dick resisted the urge to shift into a more comfortable position. Pins and needles were spreading up his thighs. His shoulder was numb.

“This has to be the least weird thing we’ve done,” Dick said against the top of Rachel’s head. He pointed at Gar, curled around Dick’s hip, head resting on his stomach like a cat. “Remember this morning, when this kid turned into a green tiger and bit the trucker that was trying to harass Rachel?”

Kory’s lip curled. “That bastard deserved it. Deserved worse.”

“I’m not saying he didn’t.”

Dick was almost glad that Gar was the one with Rachel when it happened, even if the kid had spent the rest of the morning chugging Gatorade, trying to get the taste of blood out of his mouth, on the precipice of panic just from the taste of iron on his tongue. These kids shouldn’t have to acclimatise themselves to violence.

But then, if Dick had been there, if Dick had heard the middle-aged trucker saying the things he had said to Rachel …

Rachel and Gar didn’t deserve to see the things Dick was capable of when Robin truly took hold.

Kory sat on the lip of the tub, paper bag balanced in her lap. She took them in silently—Dick, purple bags under his eyes, squashed into the motel’s too-small bathtub. It made for a dry but uncomfortable bed. Especially with two teenagers asleep on top of him.

Gar was curled flat at the bottom of the tub. One arm wrapped around Dick’s waist, and the other gripped Rachel’s sweater, like he was scared she would disappear while he slept. His nose dug into Dick’s ribs. Their feet were tangled together.

Rachel was pressed into a tight ball against Dick’s right side. Her head rested on his shoulder, and her knees pressed into his stomach. Her boots were heavy against his thighs.

“What happened?” Kory asked quietly.

“Rachel had another attack,” Dick said, and he didn’t specify whether he meant a panic attack or an attack of dark magic. With Rachel, it was almost always both. “She ran in here. We followed. She wouldn’t calm down, even when I hugged her, and I was worried she’d hurt herself, so I just … carried her into the tub so she could ride it out. Garth followed.”

“And then they tired themselves out,” Kory finished. “Poor kids.”

“I thought I’d let them sleep.”

Kory fished out her phone out of her purse and, before Dick could protest, took a photo of the three of them crammed into the bathtub together.

“What?” she said at his disapproving look. “It’s very cute, Dick. Even you have to admit—it’s cute.”

“Don’t post it anywhere.”

“Do you think I’m stupid? This is for personal enjoyment only. I’m making this my background photo.”

Dick groaned and buried his face in Rachel’s hair. Kory laughed at his pain.

Dick didn’t complain that the two teenagers were heavy, or that he couldn’t really feel any part of his body beneath his neck from lack of circulation. Neither of them suggested that they wake the kids up.

Kory tapped away at her phone. She reached into the paper bag and pulled out a burger, unwrapped it and took a bite, before holding it to Dick’s lips. He took a delicate bite.

“Thanks,” he said. “The perimeter?”

“Safe. I did a sweep before I came in.” She fished out the box of fries and held one out to him. He took it. His lips brushed the tips of his fingers, but neither of them flinched away from the contact. Without hesitating, Kory reached into the box and dug out another fry. Her fingers brushed his lips again, almost like she was doing it on purpose.

He wasn’t sure how long they sat there—Kory hand-feeding Dick and fiddling with her phone, Dick chewing carefully and fighting the urge to fall asleep, and Rachel and Gar slumbering obliviously.

He had been afraid that living with powered teenagers would feel like his later years with Batman. The rigid training schedules, the patrols, the worsening violence, until he felt more soldier than person, but it wasn’t. It was hard, and violence nipped at their heels, but this was … oddly domestic. Softer than he would have ever thought possible for someone like him.

The burger and fries were gone by the time Rachel eventually stirred. She pushed her face further into his shoulder, and mumbled, “Mom?”

Dick and Kory exchanged a wordless glance.  
“It’s just me,” Dick said. “You’re safe, Rachel. We’re okay.”

She rolled over and blinked at the harsh artificial light. “Where are we? What happened?”

“You had an attack. You didn’t hurt anyone or do any damage, but we ended up taking a nap afterward.”

Rachel took in the faded pink acrylic, and Gar, snoring softly into Dick’s shirt, and said, “A nap in the … bathtub.”

“Apparently,” Kory said, holding up her phone. “I have pictures of you three. Very cute.”

Rachel went pink. Kory laughed, but it was a soft laugh, a laugh without menace. Rachel stole the paper bag in retaliation. She settled back against Dick’s shoulder and started in on the lukewarm waffles.

Gar groaned. He blinked up at them. “W’s this?”

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Kory said. “Hungry?”

Gar sat up. He looked down at Dick and Rachel—his dark hair stuck up, her cheeks puffed out with waffles—and said, baffled, “Were we sleeping in a _bathtub_?”

“These two weirdos took photos and everything,” Rachel said. She held out the bag to him. “Food?”

Gar perked up at the appearance of food. He took a burger and settled back against the opposite side of the tub, leaning to one side to avoid the bulky taps. His legs were still tangled against Dick’s.

“Can I get up now?” Dick wondered aloud.

“Nah,” Rachel said. Gar shrugged.

“I think I have a permanent crick in my neck now,” Dick said.

“You’re an old man,” Gar said, flapping a hand in the air. There was a streak of barbecue sauce across his cheek. “Bone pain is apart of your life now.”

“I’m not old.”

“You’re ancient,” Rachel told him.

“Accept it,” Gar said.

Dick looked to Kory for help, and she told him, “Accept it.”

Dick sighed and went limp. He closed his eyes. For some reason, he found it easier to doze off like this, beneath the moving forms of two teenagers, the bathroom echoing with their bickering and the crinkling of paper wrappers and the click of Kory’s phone going off as she took photos. They were safe. They were all safe, awake—they didn’t need Dick to watch their unconscious backs.

Without meaning to, Dick fell asleep right there in the tub, surrounded by his makeshift team.

 

**Author's Note:**

> [My tumblr.](http://captainkirkk.tumblr.com/)


End file.
